This invention relates to an enclosed trailer. More particularly, it relates to an improved trailer for transporting live fowl.
One of the problems in transporting large numbers of living fowl, such as baby chicks, is the need to remove excess heat from their immediate environment to insure that a large number of the fowl will survive the transport. Transporting fowl in an open air trailer, while permitting a great deal of air circulation for cooling the fowl during transport, is not acceptable because of the direct exposure of the fowl to the elements.
Therefore, fowl are normally transported in closed trailers. Often over 90,000 chicks are placed in a typical trailer. Each chick gives off approximately 1 BTU of heat per hour. In addition, the chicks give off a substantial amount of carbon dioxide in the breathing process. High levels of carbon dioxide in an enclosed trailer can suffocate the chicks. Thus it is imperative to remove carbon dioxide, as well as excess heat from the trailer.
Trailers have been designed with in-wall and overhead duct work, and with fans for circulating the air. The air ducts may be connected to various sources of forced air, such as air conditioners, fans and, in some cases, forced air heaters for winter transport. The air is often circulated over open grates in a false bottom floor of a trailer between rows of fowl. Even with more sophisticated environmental control systems, hot spots have developed where air circulation is poor. It has been found that many of the fowl in areas having hot spots will not survive a long transport.
A major innovation in the transport of living fowl is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,870, issued to G. D. Smith. The Smith patent shows a closed duct ventilation system located in the floor of the trailer, and provides forced air between parallel rolls of chicks. While the Smith patent incidentally discloses that an air conditioner system could be utilized, there is no detailed description of an air conditioning system. In addition, the Smith patent does not discuss the carbon dioxide problem associated with the transport of chicks.
It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide an improved enclosed air conditioned trailer for transporting living fowl.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved enclosed air conditioned trailer for transporting living fowl which provides uniform cooling throughout the trailer.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an enclosed air conditioned trailer for transporting living fowl which removes excess carbon dioxide from the trailer.
In accordance with one form of this invention, there is provided an enclosed air conditioned trailer adapted to transport living fowl. An enclosure is provided and is defined by a ceiling, first and second side walls, a front wall, a rear opening, and a bottom platform. At least one door is associated with the rear opening. A floor is located above the bottom platform. The floor and bottom platform form a space. At least one elongated air handling duct is located in the space. The air handling duct has first and second ends. An air conditioning apparatus is located near the first wall and is connected to the first end of the air handling duct. The second end of the air handling duct is located near the rear opening. A mechanism is provided for permitting air to escape from the duct along the length of the duct. The first end of the duct is wider than the second end of the duct so that the duct is tapered along its length whereby air escaping the duct moves at substantially uniform velocities along the entire length of the duct.
In accordance with another form of this invention, there is provided an enclosed air conditioned trailer adapted to transport living fowl which produce carbon dioxide. An enclosure is provided and is defined by a ceiling, first and second side walls, a front wall, a rear opening and a bottom platform. At least one door is associated with the rear opening. An air conditioning apparatus is provided for supplying temperature controlled air to the enclosure. At least one outside air intake valve is provided. An actuator is provided for opening and closing the valve. At least one carbon dioxide detector is located within the enclosure. The actuator is responsive to the carbon dioxide detector. When the carbon dioxide within the enclosure is sufficiently high, the valve is opened by the actuator, thereby increasing the oxygen level within the enclosure. In the preferred embodiment, at least one and preferably two air outlet valves are also provided for removing excess carbon dioxide from the enclosure.